The Daily Mirror. Whether patting United on the back with hand and stabbing them in the same place with the other as in 2000 or whether employing someone whose CV must read of just “I hate Man Utd and I car not rite very wel”, the Mirror have for a long time been the scourge of Britain’s most popular football club. Their Wayne Rooney expose – published with no direct quote or evidence from anyone with a name, and published despite Rooney having obtained a “super injunction” – showed the lengths they will go to in order to attack Manchester United.

Coming just 18 months after a former Mirror journalist who now writes for Football365 proudly admitted to his part in encouraging the burning effigies of Beckham in 1998 (though backtracks with a “I didn’t tell them to do it!” style comment) and implored England supporters to treat Rooney as “non human” for no other reason than dislike, one has to wonder where the Mirror will stop. The unpleasant thing is that you would imagine they won’t stop until they’ve gone too far. And, sadly, splitting a family up doesn’t seem like a step too far. Publishing the story with just a few days to go until Rooney heads to a venue – Goodison – where he is likely to come under extreme abuse, is asking for something else.

I implore all United supporters reading this and having the same thoughts on their conscience to do something about it. Stop reading or buying the Mirror, or write to complain. Read on, for why.

It matters not whether the story is true, in this instance. If it is true, then Wayne Rooney has been a very silly boy indeed. He will know that. But this is part of the celebrity culture we live in and the constant accessibility that players both court and feed from often comes back to bite them. Rooney’s every move throughout his career has been under a microscope; this year alone has seen the majority of the media almost willing him to get injured for 4 months (ending with the inevitable) and castigating him for daring to indulge in normal young man activities like having a night out.

This shouldn’t matter to the 70,000+ match goers every other week and those millions around the world who want to watch him play 90 minutes for United and concern themselves with supporting the club only. But the intended vitriol focussed on Rooney is done so with the one purpose of detracting from his club form so they can revel in United’s subsequent probable lack of success. Rooney is a shy lad, but has still made himself accessible to the media, so it begs the question, why pick on him? There are other players with “injuctions” out, one “allegedly” a Liverpool player. No-one of course can touch that. Liverpool are currently afforded an indefinite blanket of media protection post-Hillsborough, where the Sun and the News of the World daren’t publish anything truly negative about the club and the Mirror, having curried favour with them as a result for the last 20 years, revel in the fact they can do things to destabilise United. Why would they want to ruin the relationship with Liverpool now?

One can only look at the way they reported on the Gerrard / DJ incident and the angle they have chosen to pursue the Rooney story. With Gerrard, the Liverpool player was described as “gentle” and the DJ as “foul mouthed” despite this video evidence from Radio City revealing an unprovoked attack. Rooney has been portrayed as the villain of this piece against an “innocent” prostitute! The video “interview” with said prostitute consists of no information whatsoever save for an answer of “yes” to the question “did you sleep with Wayne Rooney”, which is followed by a stupid smile. Without wanting to question the cast-iron credibility of someone who charges money for sex and willingly sleeps with expectant fathers, the beaming smile at answering the question screams of someone not quite being completely honest.

As I said, though, it’s the continued dedication to attacking Manchester United that is going too far. The alleged affair took place almost a year ago; the injunction talk has been around since April. The Mirror have chosen to go against the injunction because filth sells; that’s no big surprise and my reaction isn’t one of naivety. But choosing to reveal the story now, with Rooney looking like finding form and with Everton away as his next game? Choosing to go with the story now, with Rooney’s kid almost a year old, knowing that you’re sending the man into a lions den next Saturday. Very classy, fellas. Fergie is faced with two options, drop Rooney to save him the incredible level of abuse he is destined to face, or field him and put him through it. I’ve no problem with Everton supporters as a whole but let’s face it, there will be one or two trying to get very personal with him when he’s within earshot. And that’s the best case scenario.

Is this kind of incitement what helps the people at the Mirror go to sleep at night? On their business charter is “constant harassment of Manchester United” their paramount objective? Over at Football 365 the writer who was working for the Mirror at the time (whose name evades me, I think it was Nick Miller but I can’t be sure as the article has since been deleted) openly confessed with writing a piece after the World Cup in 1998 with the intention of getting up Fergie’s back. Outstanding professionalism. Proudly describing the inspiration for the headline of “our duty to taunt Beckham”. Why would any right thinking individual write such a thing?

Why, after seeing what happened with Beckham in the following months, would they think it’s right to try and put another player through it? Why choose NOW to release a story that has been around the blocks for a while, with no evidence to support it? It’s less than soulless, it’s vindictive. It’s seeing what happened in 1998 and hoping for similar or worse results.

Wayne Rooney might well be a silly boy; but it’s those at the Mirror that should be ashamed of themselves even more. They were responsible for encouraging and inciting the behaviour towards Beckham in 1998. They’re just as responsible for doing so now, with the knowledge of how their writing can influence the behaviour of thousands of morons. When will they stop? Sadly, the answer clearly seems to be, “not until they’ve gone too far”.

It’s always those poor United players isn’t it. Like Crouch, Terry and Cole.

Working on the assumption that they were going to do it anyway, when would be the “right” time? Were they supposed to phone Wayne up and set up the right date for all concerned?

If he’s done it, which is a long way from unbelievable unfortunately, then my desire for him to play well for Manchester United conflicts with my absolute lack of sympathy for him over this. It always has been and always will be the case that the incredibly famous get hounded by the press, and the perfect answer to that is to actually not behave like a scumbag.

I’m not sure at what point you expected the rags to show an ounce of class but at the end of the day the idiot likes of Crouch, Cole and, if he’s done it, Rooney bring it on themselves. They understand the spotlight, they know the consequences of their actions but they somehow think their large bank balance and thousands of supporters shouting for them every week makes them exempt.

It’s ridiculous to call out the papers on the bad stories to invoke this them-against-us mentality without calling out the people who are desperate to find a good slant on every story about United.

Lets put it this way – The Mirror will go out of business if this story isn’t true and unfortunately for Wayne and his young family this doesn’t look the case.

Putting aside Rooney’s superior footballing gifts and ability – cheating on your pregnant wife with a prostitute is a horrendous act. Yes, ‘normal people’ also get caught up in this seedy world and it is glorified for Wayne Rooney considering he is smack bang in the public eye.

Rooney smoking a cigarette? Big deal. Johan Cryuff smoked 40 a day whilst Socrates’ lungs got a battering aswell – it didn’t do those two much harm did it. Its their choice.

We all do take an interest in the private lives of the players at our clubs and I guess it depends on your morale compass whether or not you ‘care’ about what Rooney has done.

I don’t buy the Mirror anyway but I do back the Boycott as its an awful read.

Ian; cheers for commenting. My point isn’t about his innocence or guilt in terms of the story. Nor is it really about the paper reporting it, even if it’s not true, it was going to end up somewhere. If he is guilty then of course I disagree with his actions. But that isn’t really the point I’m making.

The Mirror have chosen NOW to go against the injunction; they had all summer to do it. It’s a calculated move designed to create as much hostility towards Rooney as possible. With their treatment of Beckham not forgotten and their hostility towards United well evidenced, and taking the words of a previous Mirror writer who admitted to writing a piece to wind United up, well, I believe that it is logical to conclude the Mirror have published this story with the intention of creating a hotbed of hostility towards Rooney.

If he has done what they claim then he will probably – and rightly so – lose his family. Does he deserve the kind of violent, aggressive behaviour that the Mirror are trying to incite, just as they “proudly” did with Beckham?

I wonder when The Mirror will go for their anti-United knock-out blow, and release sordid details of Paul Scholes private life! Oh right… yeah… they won’t, because he didn’t s**g a string of prostitutes. Get over the victim complex and accept that the players need to not have sex for money if they want a first line of defence against the ‘evil’ press.

How narrow minded and biased this thread is. Did the Mirror make Rooney do this? Sorry, if you earn £100k a week for something paid for by the public, you take the consequences when it goes wrong or you get found out..He’s a nob! end of!

I am not a United fan. The Mirror hate everyone and the country would be a better without it. Years ago I thought it was an antidote to The Sun, but nowadays I think it is by far the most bile-filled and hateful publication around.

I am a person with high discipline and if Rooney is found guilty doing this sort of things, i hope united can punish him no matter how important he is to us. United are a club well respected and discipline is the foremost thing for us. We are not Chelsea but United.

I really this article is not true and Rooney is innocent but if he is guilty of it, i will not be on his side and think he does nothing wrong!

But the NOTW have published it too today…so its not really a calculated move by the Mirror, simply that the continued gagging injuction ran out and this was the first opportunity to go to press. Both papers will go out of business if not true…so it must be. Given the fact that england/pakistan are playing today with the match fixing scandel out of control….credibility is in question of NOTW, so they would never compromise that at such a sensitive time.

As a gooner i should be laughing but i’m not
yes hes made a mistake , again , but hey he’s 24 and loaded , hes still a kid , so i hope this time he learns his lesson ,makes up with the missus and gets back to what he does best , AFTER you’ve played us of course lol,and as for the mirror well we have found a use for it here in the smoke,we wipe our arses on it

Boycott the Daily Mirror.?
I nearly fell off my chair. Why would we do that to the paper who are so far up Man Utd’s arse that you’d need a sledge hammer to remove them.

The papers wouldn’t dare print this stuff about Rooney if it wasn’t true you plonkers. He wants shafting for being such a *ickhead, and it’s not the 1st time since he’s been with Coleen, but I’ve no doubt she’ll still be there when it’s all blown over. After all, she’d be working in the local factory if it wasn’t for him.

Good article, I like that you’ve looked at the story in different light. Course, Rooney’s alleged actions should not be condoned but I’m questioning the validity of the source. This is me playing detective.

The ‘World Exclusive’ video on the Sunday Mirror website runs for about 9 seconds adding little or no further details about the allegations.

At the moment of writing, the News of the World website is down. However, I’ve still found some direct quotes from the ‘vice girl’ elsewhere from NoTW, are those too are rather fishy. This is an example of what she said:

“The only time he ever mentioned one of the other players was when we were at a party one night and he called Cristiano Ronaldo a ‘w***er’.!”

Wait. Last year? Nope, he wasn’t at the club. Especially not, when Colleen was eight months pregnant.

Of course, you say in the article ‘it matters not if the story is true’, because you go on to make some good points about the Mirror as a whole publication. This may be me clutching at straws, and it probably is, but I hope fans don’t jump to conclusions to quickly. When I read the story, I felt distraught and sick but really United fans must get behind the lad until proven guilty.

As an Evertonian, I felt some betrayal when Wayne left the way he did – but who amongst can honestly say they would turn down a huge increase in income to be “loyal”? I wish him well. As a supporter, whether it be for Everton, Man U, or England – I want Rooney to play well – I enjoy watching him play. His personality, good or bad, is not relevant to me – I would welcome him back at Everton. What do I think of him personally, football aside? He is a spoilt, arrogant, scum bag who only cares about himself. Do I believe the allegations. Absolutely, and I find them disgusting – as I would with anyone, friend or foe. Do I want him to play well against Everton. Yes! Will I boo him? No! But most importantly, will Everton win? ABSOLUTELY!!!! Good luck folks

Poor us, everyone in the world is ABU, that’s why we get penalties every home game if someone comes within a yard of one if our players, that’s why the FA let us degrade the most famous, traditional competition in the world by pulling out to make a pot of cash playing the other side of the world, that’s why the footballing authorities let Fergie dictate them.

United fans are clueless. Even your ex-captain fantastic said it, what did he call you all? Oh, that’s right, the prawn sandwich brigade. Gerrard, Terry, Rooney, Ferdinand, Cole etc etc, they’re all the same, rich, young men without the intelligence to deal with it.

Rooney will get slaughtered for this and rightly so. Your victim complex is as embarrasing as it is egotistical. This would have been reported no matter who he played for, he’s the best player in the country, that’s why it’s such a big story, not because he plays for you lot. The media made a Liverpool fan burn gerrards shirt in 2005, same as the beckham incident. These things happen to ALL bug clubs. United arent the only club in England, you’re not even the best side anymore so thinking everyone is ABU is laughable. I hate Chelsea more now.

The funniest thing about this is Reading through all the comments on the republik of Mancunia site. Suddenly, Rooney is a “scouse b*****d” haha. You lot certainly know how to turn on your own, I still remember you lot booing Giggs when he had a poor spell about 7 or 8 years ago. Typical prawn sandwich eaters. Your away support is superb but your home fans are generally glory seeking, clueless wums.

Can I just make it clear once again that I’m not defending Rooney’s alleged actions as some of you seem to think, nor am I actually really challenging the validity of the story.

Sure, the woman in question doesn’t seem the most reliable but I’m still assuming the story is real. As ManUtd24 rightly refers, I said it “matters not if the story is true”.

My real point is with the Mirror’s reporting of it and the timing they did it; they’ve had the story for so long, most of the media has, it’s telling that it’s they who chose to report it and that they chose to report it right before a fixture where they know any incitement could create major trouble.

RED PAT – NOTW have published it but it was the Mirror that broke the story via Twitter last night so claimed the exclusive, meaning that the Screws were “safe” to publish their account knowing that the Mirror had done it first.

Fran, I was using Liverpool as the example given that the Mirror publicly defended Gerrard, have a strong pro-Liverpool bias in their reporting with several supporters on the staff who allow their influence to spill into their writing (McGovern being the most warped). Obsession, not quite, as the comparison is valid.

First of all, the Super-injunctions may all have been from different players – I’ve heard, Rio, Stevie G, Terry, Cole, Glen Johnson all listed as the ones who took them out, but it’ll most likely be none of them. I have also heard that Rooney chose not to get one. Believe what you will. How long do they last for anyway? Could it have been lifted, hence the timing being the fault of the legal system? As for the papers, the papers are naff, I don’t read them, nor watch the news much. They prefer to talk about the Pakistani cricket scandal (who in the UK really cares?) rather than the Pakistani floods (a true global disaster). The only news we get from papers inc. the Broadsheets seems to be Who won big brother and who banged who. The tabloids are struggling financially and are just trying to make a quick buck. Boycott them and let them die like they deserve. The video killed the radio star; internet killed the tabloids.

Personally I don’t want Rooney to play against Everton. He deserves the abuse they will give him, moreover he gets paid by a club followed by millions of kids and he should be dropped. Are we putting points over the image of the club? Is Rooney bigger than United now, just like he was too big for Everton? No. He should be dropped for setting a bad example. If he doesn’t like it; tough.

Gooner here; If true, Rooney is a kn0b for cheating on his wife, especially if it happened while she was pregnant. However, I still have a lot more respect for him than for the so called journalists at the Daily Mirror, or any of the Gutter Press for that matter. I support any boycott against the Gutter Press.

good points mark s. …. Rooney wasnt bigger than EFC, he just thought he was. He was already an international when he left. Big money can turn anyone.
He has a very big ego, and probably thinks he IS bigger than MUFC.
Its a shame. I honestly thought he had matured.
Newpapers – all reporters slant stories based on their own point of view. I never take them seriously, just enjoy the read whether for or against what I like or believe.
I dont like reporters. So self-righteous and opiniated and most never done anything worthwhile outside their newspaper.
I dont believe in blanket bans. I never subscribed to the blacking of the Sun in Liverpool. I like page 3 too much.
Neither do I subscribe to the conspircy theories. Talk about paranoid.
They’re comics. Treat them as such.

Karl – I completely agree that the story isn’t ABU but rather a stupid action by a stupid spoilt brat. The Republik of Mancunia site is full of tossers filling it with bile, hatred and arguments. As a United fan I don’t read the comments much – you probably shouldn’t either.

I like your sentiment and sympathise with you because it’s a shocking story. But there was no injunction so it’s not a case of the Mirror timing it. It’s not even their story either, they tried to pinch the News of the World’s

My wife is, shall we say, a “professional matchmaker”. When her leggy thai strumpets get together to eat stinky food, I always used to hear “Roo nee”. Being a utd fan, my ears used to prick up. Mrs Red always fobbed me off by saying “roo-nee” means “hole” in thai.

This morning, she admitted she’d been fibbing. They’ve all had the ugly little devil. She also told me that Beckham was notorious for loving the yellow velvet, and they all loved him, because he’s a such a good-looking, polite guy. And hung, I’m told.

Fortunately, thai working girls are very publicity-shy. But between you and me, (and before my libelous post disappears, communist-era russian style) most of our team are at it. And it’s organised for them by the club. And it will be out soon.

When your wife is as big as a bus, and has one of “those” whiney scouse voices, I don’t blame Rooney for paying for it. He employed a professional, to take the strain off his pregnant missus. He probably got her a housekeeper, too, but nobody is blaming him for that.

What’s the point of being a squillionaire, if you can’t shag a fit bird every now and then? My wife’s girls all feel very sorry for him, and now they’re worried that he won’t see them anymore.

Apparently, it wasn’t Mirror or News of the World money which made this woman kiss & tell. It was money originating in the middle east. Every one of our players has been followed, watched, tracked by their mobiles. Utd will be portrayed in the press as a corrupt, debauched giant, owned by american jews. City will be portrayed as a caring,charitable family club, owned by moralistic muslims.

We all know it’s not true. That’show the storys will be spun in the next 6 weeks.

Not sure there’s any particular ABU sentiment at work with this particular story, given Rooney’s status – just gutter journalism typical of the tabloids in this country. Wouldn’t read the Mirror anyway though, it’s little more than a Liverpool fanzine these days. Just check their Mirror Football website – half those writing are ex-Liverpool players or obvious fans (David Maddock standing out as someone who scouse fanzines would probably turn away for being too biased), not to mention how their Manchester correspondent is flagrantly ABU, as well as that odious cretin McGovern.

Ultimately, don’t boycott the Mirror because it’s ABU, boycott it because it’s an abysmal excuse for a newspaper. In fact the word boycott seems pointless here – not reading the dross churned out by the Mirror or any UK tabloid shouldn’t be something people have to make a conscious effort to do, it should just be common sense. The sooner they all go to the wall the better.

This article is ridiculous. I knew Liverpool would get a mention in here! Typical United fans, jealous of Liverpool. Maybe Rooney should not have done what he has done and then they would have nothing to print would they?! Get the giant chip off your shoulders.